Bahamas to get 'Sidney Poitier' bridge NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — A bridge in the Bahamas is being renamed to honor Sidney Poitier, who spent part of his childhood in the island chain east of Florida. Prime Minister Perry Christie says the Paradise Island Bridge will be rechristened as part of next month's 40th anniversary celebration of Bahamian independence. Christie says the 88-year-old film star is being honored because of his life story and diplomacy. Poitier has been Bahamian amb...

Mexico capo killed, then body stolen by gunmen MEXICO CITY (AP) — The death of the founder and leader of Mexico's brutal Zetas cartel in a firefight with marines outside a baseball game near the Texas border was perhaps the biggest coup of President Felipe Calderon's war on drugs. But triumph turned to embarrassment when authorities lost the body. Officials still haven't found the remains of Heriberto Lazcano, which were snatched from a funeral home and whisked away by gunmen in a hijacked...

US report highlights unease about Chinese firms BEIJING (AP) — Eager to expand in the United States, China's biggest technology companies face an America anxious about threats to jobs and national security. The latest blow: A U.S. report that says telecom equipment makers Huawei Technologies Inc. and ZTE Corp. are potential security threats that Americans should avoid doing business with. The report, coming amid an American presidential race in which trade tensions with Beijing are a promin...

Taliban gunmen shoot 14-year-old girl activist MINGORA, Pakistan (AP) — Fourteen-year-old Malala Yousufzai was admired across a battle-scarred region of Pakistan for exposing the Taliban's atrocities and advocating for girls' education in the face of religious extremists. On Tuesday, the Taliban nearly killed her to quiet her message. A gunman walked up to a bus taking children home from school in the volatile northern Swat Valley and shot Malala in the head and neck. Another girl on the b...

Al-Qaida making comeback in Iraq, officials say BAGHDAD (AP) — Al-Qaida is rebuilding in Iraq and has set up training camps for insurgents in the nation's western deserts as the extremist group seizes on regional instability and government security failures to regain strength, officials say. Iraq has seen a jump in al-Qaida attacks over the last 10 weeks, and officials believe most of the fighters are former prisoners who have either escaped from jail or were released by Iraqi authorities f...

NATO backs Turkey in standoff with Syria BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO is ready to defend Turkey, the alliance's top official said Tuesday, in a direct warning to Syria after a week of cross-border artillery and mortar exchanges dramatically escalated tensions between the two countries. Ankara has sent additional fighter jets to reinforce an air base close to the frontier with Syria where shells killed five Turkish civilians last week, sparking fears of a wider regional crisis. Syria has defe...

First female rapper debuts in Afghanistan KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — "Listen to my story! Listen to my pain and suffering!" Afghanistan's first female rapper Sosan Firooz pleads into her microphone. With her first rap song, the outspoken 23-year-old singer is making history in her homeland where society frowns on women who take the stage. She is already shunned by some of her relatives. But for Firooz, the best way to express herself is through rap, a musical genre that is just startin...

North Korean soldier defects to South Korea across border SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A North Korean soldier killed two of his officers Saturday and defected to South Korea across the countries’ heavily armed border, officials said. The soldier shot his platoon and company commanders before crossing the Demilitarized Zone at around noon, a Defense Ministry official said, citing the soldier’s statement after he was taken into custody by South Korean border guards. The official declined to be named becau...

Pope’s butler awaits verdict in papal leaks trial VATICAN CITY (AP) — A verdict in the case of the pope’s butler accused of leaking papal documents may help close one of the most damaging scandals of Pope Benedict XVI’s papacy. But even after Paolo Gabriele’s fate is decided by a Vatican tribunal Saturday, a core question will remain open: Did he really act alone in exposing the secrets of one of the most secretive institutions in the world? Gabriele faces up to four years in prison if he’s c...

Syrian regime opens new urban front, shells Homs BEIRUT (AP) — The Syrian military opened a second urban front Friday, attacking the rebel stronghold of Homs with the most intense artillery barrage in months and putting opposition fighters there and in Syria’s largest city, Aleppo, increasingly on the defensive. Syria’s civil war has been locked in a bloody stalemate, and embattled President Bashar Assad could extend his hold on power if he retakes Aleppo and Homs. Amateur video from Homs, a...

Abu Hamza extradited to US after UK ruling LONDON (AP) — Radical preacher Abu Hamza al-Masri and four other terror suspects were extradited from the U.K. after Britain’s High Court ruled they had no more grounds for appeal in their yearslong battles to avoid facing charges in the United States. Scotland Yard said Friday the suspects had been brought to an air force base in eastern England from Long Lartin Prison, where two planes provided by U.S. authorities were waiting to fly them to...

UN strongly condemns Syrian shelling of TurkeyUNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council overcame deep divisions to unanimously approve a statement Thursday condemning Syria’s shelling of a Turkish town that killed five women and children “in the strongest terms.” Council members managed to bridge differences between the strong statement demanded by the United States and its Western supporters and backed by their NATO ally Turkey, and a weaker text pushed by Russia, Syria’s most impo...

Turkey fires at Syria after deadly shelling BEIRUT (AP) — Turkish artillery fired on Syrian targets Wednesday after shelling from Syria struck a border village in Turkey, killing five civilians, sharply escalating tensions between the two neighbors and prompting NATO to convene an emergency meeting. “Our armed forces at the border region responded to this atrocious attack with artillery fire on points in Syria that were detected with radar, in line with the rules of engagement,” the Tur...

Low-cost flying arrives in luxury-loving Japan NARITA, Japan (AP) — Japan has a reputation for loving expensive things like overpriced real estate, gourmet melons and luxury brands. But the nation is finally discovering the joy of flying cheap, with the arrival this year of three low-cost carriers. The takeoff of AirAsia Japan, Peach Aviation and Jetstar Japan could change lifestyles. No longer will air travel be mostly confined to business trips and fancy once-in-a-lifetime vacations to p...

T-Mobile USA set to merge with MetroPCS BERLIN (AP) — Struggling cellphone companies T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS Communications are set to merge, in a deal that will create an operator with more than 40 million subscribers. In a joint statement, the two companies said Wednesday that Deutsche Telekom AG, the owner of T-Mobile USA, will hold 74 percent of the new business, while MetroPCS’s shareholders will hold the remainder, as well as receiving a payment of about $1.5 billion. “The c...

Vatican police testify in trial of pope’s butler VATICAN CITY (AP) — Members of the Vatican police force have testified that they found thousands of pages of documents — about Freemasonry, secret service security forces and internal Vatican letters — inside the Vatican City apartment of Pope Benedict XVI’s former butler, who is on trial for aggravated theft. Their testimony continues Wednesday in a Vatican courtroom in the trial of Paolo Gabriele, the 46-year-old father of three who faces fo...

US car was targeted in Mexico ambushMEXICO CITY (AP) — A senior U.S. official says there is strong circumstantial evidence that Mexican federal police who fired on a U.S. Embassy vehicle, wounding two CIA officers, were working for organized crime in a targeted assassination attempt. Meanwhile, a Mexican official with knowledge of the case confirmed on Tuesday that prosecutors are investigating whether the Beltran Leyva Cartel was behind the Aug. 24 ambush. The Mexican official ...

Official: Hezbollah fighters killed in Syria BEIRUT (AP) — A Hezbollah commander and several fighters have been killed inside Syria, a Lebanese security official said Tuesday, a development that could stoke already soaring tensions over the Lebanese militant group’s role in the civil war next door. Hezbollah’s reputation has taken a beating over its support for the Syrian regime, but any sign that the group’s fighters are taking part in the battle raises fears that the conflict could exp...

No Syria solution in sight at UN General AssemblyUNITED NATIONS (AP) — After countless speeches, meetings and behind-the-scenes discussions, the war in Syria remained the unsolved problem that loomed over this year’s gathering of world leaders at the United Nations. As the week-long meeting of the U.N. General Assembly ended Monday, there were no breakthroughs on a civil war that has vexed diplomats, paralyzed the Security Council and raised new questions about the relevance of the United Na...

Israel’s Netanyahu draws his “red line” for IranUNITED NATIONS (AP) — In his most detailed plea to date for global action against Iran’s nuclear program, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday the world has until next summer at the latest to stop Iran before it can build a nuclear bomb. Netanyahu flashed a diagram of a cartoon-like bomb before the U.N. General Assembly showing the progress Iran has made, saying it has already completed the first stage of uranium enrichment....